17th NEWSLETTER

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

We are pleased to present the Society's 17th Newsletter.

The 18th Meeting of the ESNCH has just taken place in Porto (Portugal) from the 24th to the 27th of May 2013. It has been a quite successful conference both scientifically and socially, thanks to a very charming Meeting Chair, Professor Elsa Azevedo (President of the Portuguese Society of Neursonology), her very experienced co-chair Professor Victor Oliveira (organizer of the 2001 ESNCH conference in Lisbon), and their team of young volunteers (medical students, residents, but also family members). Over 400 participants from more than 45 countries contributed to the success of this conference with their scientific work: 110 poster presentations, 29 invited lectures, 43 oral presentations. In addition, both basic and advanced teaching courses were very well attended; delegates were also given the opportunity to test their knowledge and skills in the International Certification Examination in Neurosonology: congratulations to those who passed the exam! Finally, as a consolidated tradition of our Society which continues to promote scientific research education and training, awards were given to the best 3 oral presentations, to the best 4 poster presentations and to the best presentation by a Japanese researcher in memory of Professor Furuhata. All participants in addition to attending the conference were also enchanted by the city of Porto: at the tip of Rio Douro, the hilly city of Porto presented a jumble of styles, eras and attitudes: narrow medieval alleyways, extravagant baroque churches and prim little squares in a Unesco World Heritage zone lined with stately beaux-arts edifices. Furthermore, the world famous heritage of Port Wine and two recent masterworks, Álvaro Siza Vieira’s Museu de Arte Contemporânea and Rem Koolhaas’ Casa da Música as crowning glories of the town made this venue suitable to host such a prestigious event. For more details, you can still visit the meeting website and take a peak at the rich photo gallery: www.neurosonology2013.pt

During the conference in Porto, another important event took place: the election of the Executive Committee (EC) of the ESNCH. In particular, Dr. Massimo Del Sette stepped down from his position after serving for 8 years as a very active officer of our Society, and during the General Assembly Dr. Edoardo Vicenzini was elected as a new member of the EC; in addition, Prof. Elsa Azevedo and Dr. Marina Diomedi became members at large. After the conclusion of the General Assembly, the members of the new Executive Committee met to elect the new president. Those who were entitled to vote voted unanimously for Prof. N.M. Bornstein as the new President of the ESNCH and thanked the outgoing president Prof. L. Csiba for all his excellent work and effort he put into our Society, allowing its growth and gaining the respect of the entire scientific community.

“Dear friends and colleagues,
first, I would like to thank you all for the support and trust of allowing me to lead our precious Society: the ESNCH. As the new President of the Society I am stepping into the "big shoes" of my predecessors who brought this organization to some great achievements from various aspects and points of view. I really hope to continue their path and to further improve and take the Society to ever higher peaks. I would like to take this opportunity and thank my good friend Prof. Laszlo Csiba, the previous President, for a wonderful job done especially in the field of education which is so important for the young generation. I would like to congratulate the new members of the executive committee Edoardo Vicenzini, Elsa Azevedo and Marina Diomedi as members at large and together we will make a great working team to move the Society forward. I would also like to thank Elsa and her wonderful team for an excellent and successful conference in Porto. As for the future, there are some challenges which I would like to accomplish during the period as the President of the Society. First, I believe that we need to have our own journal; "The European Neurosonology Journal". I have already contacted a few publishers and I hope to be successful in this task. Secondly, I would like to continue and even increase, with the help of Laszlo Csiba and other colleagues, the educational activities. Thirdly, I would like to establish a campaign to increase our membership and retain the current members. Finally, I think that we need to revise our bylaws and would like to assign a committee that will be responsible for it. There is a lot of work and tasks in front of us but I believe that together we can do it and I am looking forward to a very bright future.
Natan”.

Another important scientific event for our Society will be the 3rd International Training Course. A few years ago we launched a summer school training program: the 1st edition took place in Bertinoro (Italy) in September 2008; the 2nd "training camp" was held in Dubrovnik (Croatia) in September 2010. The 3rd course will be held in Portoroz (Slovenia): September 12-14, 2013. The President of the meeting will be Professor Bojana Žvan. On the beautiful Adriatic coast, attendees from all around the world will have the privilege to participate in lectures and discussions held by world’s leaders in the field of neurosonology. It will be a great opportunity for young colleagues to better their skills with the help of our very qualified trainers. The course will be held over three days, with lectures and hands-on sessions; diverse topics will be discussed, starting from basic neurosonology to diagnosing complex neurological pathology by means of ultrasound. More enthusiastic participants will test their knowledge by taking the exam for the International Certificate in Neurosonology and become certified teachers.

In addition to this event, our Society continues to promote scientific research, education and training all over Europe. This year we gave our support to: 1. the TCCS course in Berlin (Germany), organized each spring by Professors J.M. Valdueza and S. Schreiber; 2. the Stroke Summer School, a yearly meeting organized at the beginning of June in Dubrovnik (Croatia) by Prof. Vida Demarin; 3. the Summer School of Neurosonology, a three-day course that is held yearly at the end of June in Zadar (Croatia), organized by Professors Branko Malojcic and Zsolt Garami; 4. the Summer School of Neurosonology for Baltic and Scandinavian countries and the 17th Nordic Stroke Congress, organized in August by Professor Dalius Jatuzis in Lithuania.

The ESNCH encourages all members to actively support implementation of ultrasound in local stroke programs and send to our webmaster, Prof. J. Klingelhöfer (neurologie@skc.de), announcements of upcoming events and conference reports for publication on our website: www.esnch.org